The Lost Generation
by Trackhawk
Summary: On May 2nd, 2022, Kaaba Akihito and his partner Nathan Ergo, announced the release of a new gaming system, the likes of which the world had never seen before. On May 3rd, 2022, The first Nerve Gear compatible game, Gun Gale Online, is unveiled. On November 6th, 2022, I live streamed my best friend and I, shouting out the last two words we would physically say for the next two years
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, and welcome to the beginning of my story.**

 **My name is Alex Lee. I am the writer and current editor of this piece of fiction.**

 **First and foremost, I wish to thank you for taking the time to read the first chapter of what may turn into a somewhat regularly updated story. I know that AUs and OCs are never the most popular thing to read, so thank you for giving this one a shot.**

 **As this is the first chapter, there will most likely be some errors and edits that must be addressed. Please bear with me as the growing pains are worked out. They will be fixed eventually. I promise you that.**

 **Secondly, I would also like to thank my beat readers, M.J.P. Smith, and ShadowOfDarkness2 for all their help in getting these first 3 chapters**

 **Lastly, reviews and comments, are much, much, appreciated here. They help both in motivation to write more, as well as allow me insight into what people like and don't like about the stories I write, thus improving quality as we go.**

 **Do consider leaving one no matter good or bad. All are appreciated.**

 **Cheers.**

* * *

 _The Lost Generation_

* * *

Gaming.

A word that went from common to taboo, in the span of 24 hours...

Well, ok, more like two years, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

For those of you who are new to this, or have been living under a rock for the past few decades, gaming is the act of playing a video game. Which is a game played via electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program, on a television or other display screen.

That is the textbook definition anyways. Look it up if you don't believe me, but I swear you will read the same thing, word for word.

To some, this may well be all you need to know about gaming as a whole. You have no need for me to explain anymore, as you have probably already written gaming off in your mind as a waste of time, energy, and money.

If this is you, then I implore you to please leave your preconceptions on the front cover before you read any further.

Because to hundreds of millions of people around the world, gaming is, has been, and continues to be, much, much, more than its definition can explain.

I would know. I was once a gamer, after all. Still am, really. Though, things have changed a little since everyone woke up.

Now I will fully admit that originally, I played video games mostly to escape the boring reality we live in.

Hell before my two year dive, it would be safe to say I was completely addicted to them. Playing non-stop for hours upon hours on end. Continuously seeking out bigger and better ways of exploring and experiencing these new digital frontiers.

There was just something about those pixel perfect creations that spoke to me. Maybe it was the amazing worlds I got to experience, or how games ensured that I was becoming a part of something more than just myself.

Something cool. Something amazing. Something people would remember.

All of that changed after the Argus Incident.

The good news? I am cured of my addiction.

The bad news? Well, we will get to that later.

First, a bit of a history lesson for all you newcomers.

On May 2nd, 2022, Kayaba Akihiko and his partner, Nathan Ergo, announced via live stream, the release of a new gaming system, unlike anything the world had ever seen before: The aptly named Nerve Gear.

Part Virtual Reality, part fantasy come to life, it was the first platform to ever utilize a revolutionary system called FullDive; which at the time had been secretly in development for over a decade.

FullDive for anyone not familiar with the technology, completely controls the player's consciousness by redirecting the signals the brain sends to the body, and sending its own waves to stimulate the five senses.

Due to this, the Nerve Gear promised an unparalleled gaming experience, unlike anything before it.

I can honestly say, despite what occurred after its release, I still don't really understand how the machine operates. But then I also did not care enough for it to matter. The launch trailers alone had me sold on it before the live show had even ended.

Hell, I was so pumped that I found myself on the pre-order list before most people could even pull their jaw off the floor. A fact that my friend Adam made sure to relentlessly tease me about in the coming months.

Though that may have more to do with how similar the situation was to the disastrous Playstation VR launch. A system that I _also_ decided to pre ordered after only seeing the announcement trailers.

After that fiasco, he took to calling the empty console box "the reminder cube", and usually made me hold it when I get to hyped about something.

However that was all before the first launch title appeared.

Lord knows I nearly creamed my pants when I heard about the game they had made for us: Gun Gale Online.

The first of a new breed of games, the so-called Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, or VRMMORPG for short.

An enormous open world game set in a post-apocalyptic Earth; A planet now reduced to nothing but wasteland after a huge war long ago.

Filled to the brim with guns, mobs, light sabers, and more, it promised years worth of fun, with never-ending PvE and PvP content, via a secret new game management system, code named, «The Cardinal System».

Developed by Kayaba Akihiko himself, he claimed that it not only managed all matters related to the game without requiring any human input, but also generated quests based on current trends, mythology, and stories that it acquires from the net. Making this the first truly organic and ever changing game the world has ever seen.

Needless to say, the sheer amount of hype these announcements generated, sparking a pre-order frenzy that would eclipse even the famed Grand Theft Auto series. Catapulting Gun Gale Online and Kayaba himself straight into the history books in only a few short hours.

Hell, even the infamous Adam, who adamantly held himself back on the launch of the consol, had the game and gear ordered before I even had a chance to call him. Unknowingly cementing our fates with nothing but a single swipe of his credit card.

Then came the closed beta test.

A select 10,000 lucky bastards were set loose in the world for a week, to stress test and bug splat the game as much as humanly possible in anticipation of the nearly twenty million people who were slated to play the game at launch.

Both Adam and I were unsurprisingly not selected to be one of those candidates. However, that did not stop us from binge-watching hours upon hours of video content from various gamers who managed to smuggle the footage of their sessions out.

We were so hyped by the end of the beta, that we both booked a full week off from work in advance. Just to ensure we could play the game to our heart's content come launch.

I personally took even more time off to begin adjusting my live streaming setup, and let me tell you, thank god I did. Setting up all the equipment and programs needed to interface and talk to the Nerve Gear, took a lot more time than originally expected.

Anyways, that is the story of how we both ended up lounging around my room, on November 5th, 2022, at roughly 11:50 PM, waiting patiently for the servers to open to the public.

Well, I say patiently, but the anticipation was slowly killing us.

On the plus side, we already had everything set up and ready to go. Both of our gears were calibrated and laid out, with separate wired connection plugged to both headsets. As it stood, neither of us wanted to risk connection issues on launch day.

My stream was also up and running, though at that time we were working out some of the connection issues between the Nerve Gear and OBS.

I remember wondering at one point or another why the public released Nerve Gear was completely cut off from outside access, save for power and LAN ports, when the beta tested ones all had a displayport output for monitoring, and potential live streaming games. Looking back on things now, it was just one of many, red flags that popped up while figuring out how to stream off the damn thing.

Red flag number one really should have been the insane, tamper proof enclosure the helmet had. The same one that prevented me from installing a capture card, or any sort of video output directly to the device, and subsequently lead me straight to red flag number two. The lack of any sort of manual shutdown or power off functions. A failsafe that would be included in all later versions of the nerve gear, but was conveniently "forgotten about" during the first launch.

Of course being the hard headed problem solver I am, none of these things did much more than vex and frustrate me. Pushing me to look for alternative ways to capture the game, including the potentially problematic "hack" I was eventually forced to use.

Now I say hack, but really all I did was duplicate the video feed sent from the nerve gear to the host server, and send the second feed via browser source to my broadcast software.

It sounds simple enough, but fuck me did it take a while to make work. The initial latency issues alone almost made me scrap the idea, until I realized that the program was not optimizing the data feeds correctly. Thus causing a backlog in the network, and slowing everything else down.

That is live streaming for you though. A small fix, to a massive issue, that almost cost me launch night viewership. Which by the way, is nothing to scoff at

Being one of the first to live streaming a new game and consol, especially one as high profile as this? It is almost guaranteed to bring in hundreds, if not thousands of new viewers, as millions of people flock to see the newest generation of games, played by their favorite internet personalities.

With Adams help, my channel grew by ten folds that first night alone. Though maybe not for the reason we had originally hoped for.

Granted, it's not like either of us knew what was going to happen. How could we? We were two random schmucks looking to escape life for a week. Nothing special.

Plus we were far too focused on setting up and being ready for launch, to worry about a small detail like that.

Bathroom breaks were completed in short order, pillows and mattresses were adjusted for optimal comfort. Snacks were set up for later, and, of course, friends and family were notified of where we would be should we not answer our phones for the next twelve hours.

We were as ready as we could be.

The stream chat was hyped as hell.

And the moment we had been waiting for was finally here.

We had no idea of what was instore for us, but as the old saying goes: reality is often stranger than fiction.

On November 6th, 2022, in front of fifty-seven people, both Adam and I knocked fists before shouting out the last two words we would physically say for the next two years.

"Link Start!"

"Huh," I muttered, staring at the mirror in front of me. "I guess I really should have expected this..."

Character Creation: the first and probably most important step of any RPG. A right of passage, you could say. The beginning of all great heroes' stories.

"Not that I'm gonna be a hero," I muttered, scrolling through the options beside my hand. Only to be rudely interrupted by a small _ping,_ as small chat window opened up right next to me.

«Nova Classic: You should play as a chick!»

Right. Streaming, I mentally berated myself, swiping my hand, as I had seen other players do countless times in the beta. Pulling up the games menu system. "You can all see this, can't you?"

 _Ping!_

«Killing Swordfish: Fucking rights! Play as a girl!»

"Right... notifications... where are you..." I growled. Scrolling quickly through the options, before finally finding and disabling the message notification sound and icon.

Lord knows I didn't need any more distractions while I was playing.

"Sorry." I cheekily smiled, knowing full well they could all probably see it. "I'll check comments when I have the chance to, ok?"

Notifications now taken care of, I turned back to the mirror. Only to be greeted with my first real challenge of this new world.

The absolutely massive Character Creation screen.

Many a game developer could learn a thing or two from it, as the sheer level of customization was simply staggering.

Everything on your avatar could be changed, from the hair on your head, to your foot size. It was true creative freedom to create whoever you wished to be. Which while amazing in both concept and execution, did result in one small issue.

"I'm gonna be here all fucking night," I muttered, clearing the pre-rendered model in front of me, before setting about making myself a new body. A task, which while quite satisfying, was anything but quick.

"A little more muscle here. A sharper jawline there. Little bit more jagged eyes. Damn, we are good." I chucked loudly, as I meticulously worked to create the ideal version of my real world self.

"Not too big and not too small. Confidant-looking. Dark hair, bright, blue eyes, some stubble... Hey, hey there, good looking." I smiled brightly as the person in the mirror slowly, but surely took form.

What can I say? If you had the chance to make yourself look way better than you do in real life, wouldn't you take it too?

Sure it took roughly twenty minutes, but damn, was it worth the wait.

"... and we are done," I finished, looking myself over my new self a few times, before selecting the continue option from the menu.

«The character you have created cannot be altered once you leave. Are you sure you wish to leave?»

«Yes/No»

"Yup!" I cheerfully exclaimed, hitting the yes button at the same time.

A brightly lit tube appeared and sucked me forward not a second later.

Unable to see anything, I stumbled blindly forwards until I felt air.

With the air, came sounds; too many to register or identify - footsteps, motors, wind.

Rapidly blinking and willing my vision to clear, I sighed deeply as the blotted movements and shapes slowly began to take form.

It was an agonizingly slow process, but eventually I was greeted with the city that I would come to know quite intimately over the next few years.

«SBC Glocken»

* * *

The world of Gun Gale Online is in short, fucking massive.

If you tried to walk across the city of «SBC Glocken», it would take you pretty much the real world equivalence of 24 hours. Making for about as close to real-world scale as you can get without, you know, actually being in the real world.

This immense scale was made immediately clear to you when you first spawn into the game itself, as two massive skyscrapers dominate your field of view.

I can still remember how intimidating it was to first look up at the two opposing towers. Their arcing forms ascend far above you, 'til they are almost touching. Twinkling with lights as the sun radiates off their smooth surfaces as it moves across the sky.

From the beta footage we had watched, I knew that the towers belonged to «Fuller Corp» and «Divinity Trade». The two main companies running most of the economy in the game, and subsequently, owners of the two respective towers.

Both companies offered specialized services, quests, and gear to suit players' style of gaming, and as such competed against one another to grow their player bases. The size of the towers was said to represent the size of the player base. Though how much of that was true was anyone's guess at this point.

I knew that both Adam and I had more of an interest in PvP, so, with almost no hesitation, I began my trek towards the ivory tower of «Fuller Corp».

"Track!"

On reflex, turned my head towards the familiar voice.

Adam, or rather, Adam's avatar , was jogging towards me from the spawn with his hand raised high in greeting. "Fancy seeing you here, man."

His avatar, much like mine, looked rather similar to his scruffy, real world self, but with a few minor changes here and there. For one thing, I did not remember him being almost equal to me in height, nor did I recall him being quite so ruggedly handsome.

"Finally got out of character creation did you?" I teased, nudging him in jest as he simply smiled and gazed around in amazement. "By the by, you want to go by Adam or Eric?"

I asked more out of curiosity than anything else.

Normally, in-game, we went by our real names, however, seeing that this was a new world altogether, it would make sense to go by our screen names for the time being. Mine being «Trackhawk», and his being «EricSprocket».

"Eric, if you don't mind," he nodded, pointing towards the dark tower ahead of me, "and I'm guessing you're headed to Fuller?"

"Damn straight!" I laughed, striding forwards once more. "I have been dying to see how sniping in this game feels."

"No shit." He laughed. "Destiny, Battlefield, Gun Gale. You never change."

I shrugged back, a small smirk creasing my face, "Well, it is what my viewers have come to expect from me."

"What? Long periods of boredom interspersed with lots of swearing and missed shots?"

I shot him a dirty look as we continued forwards, a cheeky grin now plastered somewhat permanently on his face.

"Asshole." I fauxed exasperation, opening up my menu as we walked. "By the by, before either of us forgets, I am sending you a friend request and invite."

"Squad up?" he gestured, opening up his menu as well to view the notification I had sent. "Ah yes. Squad up indeed."

Squads were Gun Gale's equivalence of guilds, and also a handy way to keep track of your friends if they got lost. Something Eric had a tendency to do...

A lot...

Both in game, and real life...

He hit the accept key, and not a second later a small window with his name, health and location appeared right below my own.

"Sweet." I smiled, closing my menu, "Though I also feel obligated to tell you that we have officially completed our first half-hour of GGO."

"Already? Fuck me," he scoffed, kicking the ground in annoyance. "We spent way too long in Character Creations!"

"Meh. Worth it." I chuckled alongside him.

A comfortable silence falling between the two of us as we continued our journey to the black building before us.

Our trip, however, was cut short when a series of bright lights suddenly erupted around us.

"What the fu..."

 _Woosh!_

Noise exploded into my ears, as I felt my avatar body being instantly sucked up into thin air. Black filled my vision for a split second, before I was unceremoniously spit back out again in a completely different area.

"Teleportation?" I muttered, smacking my hands over my ears as the noise continued to assault them. "What the hell?"

A massive sea of people now surrounded me, all of them talking and yelling. Confusion was clearly evident among the majority of the players here.

"What the fuck was that?!" Adam appeared right beside me in a flash of light. With confusion plastered across his face and his hands covering his ears, just like me. "Where the fuck are we?!"

A quick glance around showed us to be in some sort of large courtyard. Massive floating screens were spaced evenly around the area, while the two massive skyscrapers of Glocken stood towering before us as backdrops.

Neon lights lit up the square, as the sun slowly set from between the massive structure. It was an amazing multi-colored spectacle to behold. Something that I was sure all of my viewers would appreciate seeing.

The sheer size of the crowd, however, was the most mind-boggling part of this whole display. Millions of people were being teleported here. Hell, probably the entire population of the game was probably filling up the area if I had to guess.

"What the hell is..."

All at once, the screens lit up, and the digital face of Nathan Ergo appeared before us.

 _"Greeting players! And welcome to the unparalleled experience that is Gun Gale Online!"_

"A fucking launch day party?!" Adam bellowed, excitement viable on his face. "Fucking rights!"

His excitement, however, was soon replaced with a look of awe as fireworks began to explode above us in great numbers.

The impressive display of pyro quickly showered the crowd with a sea of sparkling colors, before tapering off as Nathan began to speak once more.

 _"As you all know, my name is Nathan Ergo. And as of this moment, I am the creator and owner of the world you see before you."_

Raising my eyebrow a little at that statement, I glanced over at Eric. After all it was well known fact that the game was a joint venture between Kayaba and him, and not a solo effort.

 _"I am here to address the concerns of quite a few players. Namely, those who are worried about the lack of a Logout button in the menu."_

Perplexed by his words, I hastily opening the game menu to confirm if what he was saying was the truth.

Sure enough, the Logout text at the bottom of the menu was missing. Leaving nothing but an empty grey box where that all important button use to be.

"Of course." Adam chuckled, looking over my shoulder at the menu screen. "Of course there would be bugs."

 _"I want to assure everyone here, that this is not a bug or anything of the sort. This is an intended feature of the game."_

I felt my blood run cold as ice as his words sank in. Intended feature? What the fuck did that even mean?

A quick glance at Adam showed a similar expression of confusion and worry.

 _"I repeat; This is not a bug. This is a purposeful design choice. Additionally, should someone else from the outside world try and remove the Nerve Gear for you or tamper with the Gear in anyway, the device's high-density transceivers will emit a burst of high powered microwaves effectively frying your brain and ending your life."_

"Oh, fuck off!" I heard Adam shout angrily. "Cut the crap! We know you're joking!"

I was halfway about to lash out myself when someone beside me spoke up.

"He's not joking."

Turning my head around, I found myself standing right next to a black-haired, oriental male, roughly about my height.

"The transmitters in the headgear work just like a microwave," he mused, glancing up at a scruffy kid next to him. "If the safety was disabled the signals could easily fry your brain. Plus, the system has its own battery. So cutting the power is not an option either."

I felt the cold hands of fear tightening up around me as the kid before me spoke. Slowly but surely working its way towards my neck at an alarming rate.

 _"The good news is that while a few people did attempt to remove the gear, they have since passed the word around that I am not lying, and as such, you are all safe from dying."_

 _"For now anyways."_

Several news articles in various languages popped up on the screens, temporarily covering Nathan's face.

Warnings to not remove the Nerve Gear were spread far and wide. Globally, by the looks of things.

 _"Sadly, however, it took around 3,000 people for the world to take me seriously. Which means that as of right now the current population count of this game has stagnated at roughly one million twenty-four thousand players."_

"Three Thousand?!"

Screams erupted from around the square as the news hit people.

Yet despite the outcry, Adam and I remained silent. Terror and confusion thankfully preventing us from joining the madness, or voicing our thoughts on the matter.

 _"Furthermore - and you should really pay attention to this - should your HP in the game reach zero, your avatar will be permanently deleted from the system, and the Nerve Gear at that same moment will fry your brain."_

"I repeat: If you die in the game, you die in reality too."

My legs gave out as the words he spoke registered.

This was no longer a game.

"Dead men walking." Adam seemed to whisper, his eyes still glued to the screens before us. "That's what we are. Dead men walking…"

 _"The only way to get out of this game is to be one of the final three people left standing, during The Ballad of Bullets Tournament. I trust you all know the original rules we laid out, however, unlike in the launch statement, the tournament will run every four months, rather than every year."_

I felt my stomach flip as his words washed over me. I probably would have puked if the game had let me.

Finish in the top three of the Ballad of Bullets Tournament!? The largest PvP Tournament in the game?! You would have to kill countless other players to do that! Really and truly kill them!

What! The! Fuck!

 _"Now I am not without generosity. So as a parting token, I have given you all a small gift. You should find it in your inventory."_

A quick sweep of my hand led me to the inventory screen. Inside of which, there was a small item labeled «Hand Mirror».

Tapping it once, a small mirror appeared in my hand.

A bright glow quickly enveloped me, and subsequently everyone else, as the square suddenly erupted in a blast of white light.

My mind could barely process what was going on anymore. My eyes stung but I forced myself to keep them open to glare at the small reflective surface. My face, my real life face, looking right back at me.

 _"And with that final note, this concludes the tutorial of Gun Gale Online. Good luck, players, and remember: Aim to be the best."_

A final volley of a few fireworks exploded overhead as Nathan's avatar vanished from the screens, leaving behind a hauntingly quite sea of people.

 _Clink_

 _kshhhhk_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, ladies and gentleman.**

 **Welcome back to the world of «Gun Gale Online».**

 **Been a while, I know, but, hey, give a guy a break. It's Christmas. Family and shit takes time. Time that can't be used to write. I mean, really. Just what can you do?**

 **Anyways. Hopefully, you all enjoy this small offering. It is not as long as the first chapter, sadly, but as an added bonus, the first chapter has been edited and revised by my lovely new beta reader, «ShadowOfDarkness2004». Feel free to go check it out if you want.**

 **Please, do enjoy, and I hope you all have a very** _ **Merry Christmas**_ **.**

 **P.S. All I want for Christmas... is revieeeews.**

 **Cheers,**

 **Alex Lee**

* * *

"The Broken Mirror? Really?"

An exasperated sigh echoed across the bar as I slowly took a seat in one of the booths that littered the establishment, scooching over just enough to make room for Eric as he made the move to join me.

"Look, it was this or the Black Cat Cafe," I growled, massaging my forehead in a futile attempt to quell the unrest trapped within it. "And I don't know about you, but bad luck aside, I _really_ need a drink right now."

"Hm. Fair point," he conceded, his head dropping to the table the instant his ass hit the cushioned seat. "A drink does sound really good right about now..."

 _Good_ didn't even begin to scratch the surface of my need.

Twenty-five minutes ago, we had all been informed that the game's entire player base was now being held hostage by a total maniac, for an unknown reason and a seemingly infinite amount of time, turning what was supposed to be the start of a brand new adventure into a twisted new reality. One where god existed and his name was apparently Nero.

If that didn't warrant a stiff drink, then I didn't want to know what would.

Of course, voicing these thoughts of mine wouldn't help anyone right now. We both knew how fucked up everything was right now. A simple nod and hum of acknowledgment was all he needed to hear right now.

Well, that, and a healthy serving of scotch, to help wash away the thought of how close we were to being a part of the chaos outside.

Truthfully, Eric and I would probably have still been back in the square if things hadn't gone the way they did. It had taken a lot of luck, a couple of smashed mirrors, and a lot of running for us to get here.

Of course, being the barely functioning humans we were, _here_ , translated roughly to " an empty bar not far from the square". As opposed to say, a hotel or someplace where we wouldn't be tempted to burn all our credits.

Though, I suppose it didn't really matter all too much, seeing as we could still hear the shouts and screams of the entire population base, as they desperately tried to find some way to leave.

Deep down, we both knew there would be some people who wouldn't make it to the next day.

That much tension and unrest. The million or so players crammed into that small of a place.

There was no doubt in our mind that more than a few people would be trampled by the stampede of people trying to get out.

Realistically, there was also not much we could do to prevent that from happening, though. I mean, really. Two mentally-impaired players trying to control a mob of over a million? Good-fucking-luck.

We were just a couple of the lucky ones is all.

Lucky to be near an exit.

Lucky to have also been bumped by that black-haired kid when he grabbed his friend and pulled him away.

Lucky to have just enough brain power left to comprehend how fucked we were if we stayed there any longer.

Lucky, lucky, lucky. If I was back home, I would have gone out and bought twenty lottery tickets to commemorate the fact that we were both still alive and well.

But we were not home. And, in all likelihood, we may not be home for a very long time.

On top of that, lady luck would only smile on us for so long. She may have saved our skin this time, but I doubted she would be as kind in the future.

We needed to talk this through. We had to regroup and reset before going back into this mad world. Maybe come up with a plan. One that would hopefully help us survive until we were rescued.

"Hello and welcome! Can I get you anything, sirs?"

We both nearly screamed as a well- dressed, or rather, painted, robot, glanced down at us from his place behind the table. A question mark emoticon appeared on his LCD "face" as he beamed his no doubt award-winning smile.

"Fuck! Jesus Christ, man!" Eric wheezed, clutching his chest in some vain attempt to keep his heart firmly in place. "Give us both a goddamn heart attack, why don't you…"

The robot either did not care or was too primitive to understand our distress, as he simply stood there with that stupid digital smile plastered on his face.

"Fine. Two rum and cokes then," I growled, glancing over at Eric as he slumped further into the seat. "The stronger the better."

"Right away, sirs!" the robot happily replied. His mechanical arms moved with an inhuman level of precision as he began what looked to be drink preparations.

 _Clunk!_

Two small glasses of dark liquid were quickly set down in front of me not ten seconds later.

"Here you are! Please enjoy!"

The happy emoticon of our apparent bartender flashed once before a notification popped up in front of me.

«Drinks: 20 Credits»

«Yes/No»

I quickly tapped the yes button, before sliding one of the drinks over into the waiting hands of Eric.

He seemed to grip the drink like a lifeline, as he brought it up quickly and took a large gulp.

"Ahhhhhh," he exhaled deeply, relaxing right back into his seat as the alcohol no doubt made its rounds.

"Just what the doctor ordered." I chuckled, before taking a hearty sip of my own drink.

The cold liquid scorched my throat as I drank, leaving behind a pleasant burning sensation as the liquor went to work on soothing my distressed mind.

"Next round is on me" - Eric mock saluted from his seat next to me- "God, I needed this."

"Agreed." I smiled back, taking a small sip from my glass, "but hold off on the next round for now. We still have some stuff to discuss..."

"Mmm," he nodded back, a grim smile marring his face, "alright..."

A quiet lull slowly took hold of the table as we continued to nurse our drinks.

We both knew the importance of the discussion that we would be having, and that time was not something we had a whole lot of, but by some unseen communication, we also agreed that it could wait until **after** we had enjoyed what may be the last "normal" moment we had for a long time.

I listened intently to the ice in our glasses, as it shuffled around during each sip, focusing on that sound alone, and not the screams of people being trampled in the streets.

Before all this, I would have been amazed by how meticulous the game designers were. But now? Now each and every detail seemed to mock me, reminding me of just how close to being back home we were.

Eric was surprisingly the one to break the silence. Though, looking back, I suppose the state of his drink explained why that was.

"So," he began slowly, placing his near-empty glass down as he spoke, "I suppose you want to talk about what we do now?"

"Well, fuck," I chuckled apathetically, placing my drink down next to his. "I was hoping you knew."

The quirk of a smile graced his face for the briefest of seconds, before darkening once more. The moment was over. Reality had taken hold again.

Sighing deeply, I turned in my seat to face him.

"Alright. The way I see it, there are really only two options," I began slowly, ticking the list off on my fingers as I went.

"Option one: Wait around the safe zone for someone to _maybe_ save us."

He nodded in acknowledgment, knowing full well what the second option was.

"Option two," I continued. "We go out into the wastes, and grind until our level is high enough that no one else can touch us. Then compete in the Bullet of Bullets, and win."

An involuntary shudder ran through me as the thought of having to actually _kill_ other players took hold.

Eric seemed to be in a similar boat as he attempted to crack his knuckles; a nervous habit he had picked up years ago.

"Not going to lie, though. I don't very much like the idea of killing anyone..." I muttered, taking a small sip of my drink to help quell the unrest in my mind.

Eric simply nodded mutely alongside me, his head hung low, as he no doubt mulled over the options.

We both knew that the answer we gave today would forever shape our experience going forwards. The real question; was the risk worth the reward?

Would we be pulled from this sick death game before we even knew it? Would it even be worth risking our lives this early on?

Only time would tell. But then time was against us. The longer we waited, the stronger the ones who had already chosen to grind would get.

"I really don't want to die..."

Eric spoke so softly, it was almost a whisper, forcing me to lean over to even hear him. "Sorry, what was that?"

"I said: I don't want to die," he repeated, a little louder this time.

"Now that's one thing you and I can both agree on." I nodded, assuring myself more than anyone else of this fact.

"But, if I do, I want to go down fighting!" he growled loudly. "Not cowering in some hotel, waiting for help that may never come."

In one swift motion, he raised his glass and emptied what remained of his drink, punctuating the statement with a solid _thunk_ , as the glass was slammed down on our table.

"Alright," he grunted, standing tall as he stood up from the table. "Let's do this."

I simply shook my head and smiled as he stalked away.

He had known from the start what my decision was. He just needed time to figure out if he would follow me or not.

"Fucking rights..." I chucked, quickly downing my own drink before chasing after him.

We left that bar slowly, taking small but measured steps as we both finalized our resolve.

The decision was made. We would fight. But that didn't mean we would win.

Not without proper gear anyways.

* * *

Proper gear, as it turned out, cost a lot more than we had originally anticipated.

A single, well-used rifle, could run us just over 4,000 credits.

And, sadly, credits were not something either of us had a lot of, having only procured the starting amount upon entering the game.

As things currently stood, we both had in total around 2,000 credits between the two of us.

That petty amount only amounted to a heavily-used pistol or laser weapon at best. Which, while much higher in damage, also left us completely defenceless.

Armour and defensive equipment, on the other hand, would help immensely in keeping us alive, _if_ we got into any sort of firefight, but would limit us to just our starter pistols for offence.

Not that the base pistol was terrible, by any means. The base stats just sucked in comparison to the weapons we could buy for around 1k credits, putting us at a large disadvantage in terms of DPS, should we be forced to fight other players.

Enter delma number one. Armor or glass cannon.

"I'm thinking armour," I grumbled, tightening the straps on the ballistics vest I was test fitting, watching Eric out of the corner of my eye, as he played with the _heavily-_ used revolver in his hands. "The gun is tempting and all, but it relies too much on accuracy for me to put my credits into it right now."

A deep sigh emanated from him as he put the revolver back on the counter. "You know, I hate it when you make sense," he mused, pulling his «Standard Issue Pistol» out from his inventory.

It looked like some malformed hunk of metal with a ten round, single stack magazine jammed into the handle. Nothing like the shiny new guns that were kept under lock and key behind the counter.

"It's ugly," he lamented briefly, trying the weight in his hands, "but it will have to do. Armor first, it is."

"Good call." I chuckled, grunting in effort as I readjusted the leg straps on my soon to be holster. "I'm thinking target practice, then hunting?"

"Probably a good plan," he agreed, pulling a black vest off one of the store's hangers. "I think I saw a range in the back area."

Standing once more, I tested the fit and feel of my vest and holster once more, before making my way to the front counter to pay. "Alright then. I'll meet you there."

"Sounds good." He nodded back, groaning in effort as he adjusted the fit of his chosen vest. "Just don't waste too much ammo. We need at least a couple hundred rounds each for mob hunting."

"Roger that." I mock saluted, turning my attention back to the NPC shop owner as a small trade window opened up in front of me.

«Lvl III-A Ballistic Soft Plate» x1

«Sentry Plate Carrier» x1

«Condor Drop Leg Holster» x1

«EG18X Smoke Grenade» x2

«Total: 870 Credits»

«Accept: Yes/No»

Quickly tapping the yes key, I attempted to ignore the now dire state of my wallet, and instead focused on leaving the shop, and making my way back through the deserted marketplace from which we came.

Judging by how quiet everything was, it would seem that a vast majority of players did not share our resolve. That or they had all already left the city in search of creeps and spawns.

Mobs were, after all, the safest way to grind out levels early on.

That and PvP suddenly didn't seem quite as appealing at the moment…

As with the rest of the market, the small firing range was completely empty. A dozen or so brightly lit booths, all set up facing a digital screen, could be programmed to hold various targets. Each one was open and ready for use.

I knew from watching a few of the beta-testers test-fire weapons here that the booths were both voice operated and completely free of charge. Which, when getting used to the game, was an absolute blessing.

A single, blue, human-size target appeared before me as I stepped into one of the booths, and drew my weapon.

"Five meters!" I called out, waiting patiently for the system to register my command.

The target disappeared for a second, before reappearing at the requested distance, hovering at roughly eye level, completely still.

Quickly raising my gun and sighting in the centre mass of the silhouette, my finger came to rest lightly on the trigger of the weapon.

The moment it did, a small green circle instantly appeared before me. Centred on the front sight, it flexed in and out rapidly, changing size and speed at seemingly random intervals.

The «Bullet Circle».

An aim assistance mechanic introduced into the game to help novice players aim at longer distances.

The circle's size and speed were, according to the beta-testers, determined by various parameters, including, but not limited to, distance to the target, gun's performance, weather, player level, skill level, stat allocation, and the player's own breathing and heart rate.

All of these, of course, mattered less at close ranges, due to how small the circle was in relation to the target, but, nonetheless, it helped.

We had heard rumors of players who could turn this feature off, but I doubted many players would do that.

It was quite handy, after all, and easy to pick up on.

Eric and I did, however, have one small advantage over a lot of the players here that may also help us in the close range environment like this.

We owned and had fired guns in real life, thus making the aiming circle at these ranges not only useless but annoying too.

 _Bang, Bang, Bang._

Three quick shots erupted from my pistol, shattering the blue silhouette before me into multiple polygons.

The smell of gunpowder and smoke filled the range, as I took note of where the shots hit.

"Not bad." I heard Eric chuckle from behind me. "Not bad at all."

"It feels really similar to reality," I agreed with a stiff nod, "though I think recoil is a bit dampened. This is supposed to be 9mm, but it feels like shooting a .22"

"Probably to help the newer players get used to things." He chuckled, drawing his own pistol from the holster on his vest.

"Probably," I agreed with a nod. "Would be nice if we could turn the «Bullet Circle» off too."

His brow furrowed quite heavily at my remark. "Is it really that bad?"

I grimaced a little, grinding my teeth as I thought things over.

"It's not bad..." I began tentatively. "Just annoying if you're used to iron sights like we are."

"Ah." He grimaced before quickly moving into the booth next to me. "Five meters!"

 _Bang, Bang._

The clinking of shell casings on the floor echoed through the range as the shock waves of both shots fizzled out.

"Well you're not wrong." He chuckled, shaking his head in amusement."I think, for scopes, it will help a lot. But for pistols? At this range? Hell to the no."

"I know, right?" I laughed, retraining my sights to the new target before me. "Best get used to it, though. That green bastard ain't going away anytime soon."

 _Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang._

Shot after shot rang out across the range, as Eric and I slowly got a better feel for the weapon in our hands. It was a bit quirky, but nothing we both couldn't handle. A fact that we both took immense joy from, as we continued to unload on the targets before us.

That same joy was almost instantly lost not a second later when we both realized one small problem.

Neither of us had thought to pick up extra magazines for the guns, thus limiting each of us to ten rounds, before we were forced to do a hard reload.

We both knew that this was a potentially fatal mistake. Something that could, and maybe would have, gotten us killed had we not realized it before going out to hunt. However, we also did not want to be thinking about that fact. Not before going out into the wild to risk our skin anyways.

As such, ten minutes, one very awkward walk back to the shop, and three extra magazines later, found us making our way towards the front of the market.

"Right." I nodded, slotting the last magazine into a pouch on my belt. "If we are gonna eat, we gotta get out there."

"Good motivation, I suppose." He chuckled, nervously adjusting his harness and holster. "I only have enough left for the train."

"Me too." I grimaced, stopping a few feet from the massive doors that lead out of the market. "Shall we?"

"Ladies first." He bowed, a cheeky smile on his face.

A stark laugh left me as I slowly stretched my fist outwards. "Let's do this."

"Yeah," he agreed, knocking my fist as he strolled forwards, throwing the doors open with a lot more force than necessary.

"Let's do this."


End file.
